Search
Saved
Book
Described by Edward Bond as 'almost irresponsibly optimistic', Saved is a play set in London in the...
Days of Wine and Roses
Book
Days of Wine and Roses was a 1962 black and white movie directed by Blake Edwards and starring Jack...
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) in Movies
Nov 20, 2020
This is one of the most visually striking films of 2018 in its luscious CGI, stunning costumes/makeup, and seamlessly staged practicals but holy shit is it ever insufferable to get through. 99 minutes has seldom ever felt so long, harkens back to that era of intolerable slimehouse kids films with the most bland scripts imaginable as if that genre was somehow worthy of an early nostalgic lookback (though according to millennial social media, it is...) Knightley is aces and single-handedly saves it from dogshit status with that squeaky-dog-toy voice and cotton candy wig paired with an unreserved commitment to chewing the scenery. Freeman is as boring as he has been for seemingly the past 9 years and it also suffers from a severe lack of Eugenio Derbez.
If I Never Met You
Book
If faking love is this easy… how do you know when it’s real? The brand new novel from Sunday...
Awix (3310 KP) rated Lost Horizon (1973) in Movies
Apr 26, 2019 (Updated Apr 26, 2019)
Horribly misjudged update of Frank Capra's classic fantasy. A group of westerners are abducted to a mystical Himalayan paradise, where the locals pass the time practising politeness and kindness; everyone should really spend more time practising their choreography because the dance routines in this film are really, really grim, although the songs may actually be worse.
You know how some films are hilariously bad? This is not one of them. This one is just jaw-droppingly awful: poorly-staged (the remote lamasery resembles a resort hotel) and stuffed with terrible creative decisions (John Gielgud plays an Asian character called Chang, through the miracle of sticky tape on his eyelids). Once the shock wears off it is more gruelling to watch than anything else; you stay to the end out of a sense of sheer disbelief more than anything else.
You know how some films are hilariously bad? This is not one of them. This one is just jaw-droppingly awful: poorly-staged (the remote lamasery resembles a resort hotel) and stuffed with terrible creative decisions (John Gielgud plays an Asian character called Chang, through the miracle of sticky tape on his eyelids). Once the shock wears off it is more gruelling to watch than anything else; you stay to the end out of a sense of sheer disbelief more than anything else.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Deadpool (2016) in Movies
Feb 19, 2018
Not the first R-rated superhero movie, nor the first superhero comedy film, nor even the first movie to feature Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson, but it does a good job of appearing to do something new and different, and has lots of good jokes. Garrulous mercenary volunteers for special procedure in attempt to fend off terminal illness; basically ends up with cancer as a super-power.
The plot is really very secondary to the style of the film, anyway, which is all about being very irreverent and transgressive towards the perceived conventions of the superhero movie; there's a bit of a straw man argument being made here, but the action is well staged and it is, as mentioned, very funny. Not the future of the genre, no matter what people may say, but a well-crafted piece of entertainment nevertheless.
The plot is really very secondary to the style of the film, anyway, which is all about being very irreverent and transgressive towards the perceived conventions of the superhero movie; there's a bit of a straw man argument being made here, but the action is well staged and it is, as mentioned, very funny. Not the future of the genre, no matter what people may say, but a well-crafted piece of entertainment nevertheless.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Atomic Blonde (2017) in Movies
Feb 11, 2018 (Updated Feb 11, 2018)
Blondes Have More Gratuitous Nudity (Apparently)
Self-consciously stylish action thriller in which Charlize Theron swanks around 1980s Berlin for two hours in a series of thigh-flashing outfits, pausing only to beat the living daylights out of groups of grown men, engage in a little modish girl-on-girl hot action, and interrupt revivals of Andrei Tarkovsky movies (for shame!).
Quite good fun if you like this kind of movie: the plot is rather secondary to the look of the thing, but it has a good cast and the action is very well-staged. Can't help thinking it's just a little bit exploitative - don't imagine the studio would have been quite as keen on the main character being gay, or indeed so frequently naked, were they male - but it doesn't come across as offensively so.
Quite good fun if you like this kind of movie: the plot is rather secondary to the look of the thing, but it has a good cast and the action is very well-staged. Can't help thinking it's just a little bit exploitative - don't imagine the studio would have been quite as keen on the main character being gay, or indeed so frequently naked, were they male - but it doesn't come across as offensively so.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Tell It to the Bees (2019) in Movies
Jul 24, 2019 (Updated Jul 25, 2019)
Well-staged hats-and-ciggies period drama struggles to find anything new to say, or indeed to surprise or engage in any way. Much-put-upon single mum (Grainger) meets newly-arrived town doctor (Paquin) in a laborious cute-meet; what follows you can probably write for yourself, with the exception of a really weird climax involving bees (the bees are a sort of motif throughout, but it's still weird).
Reasonably good acting, although Paquin's attempt at a Scottish accent is not particularly easy on the ear. The problem is that the film is deeply predictable and not especially subtle (the girl-on-girl stuff is classily handled, though). I found it quite heavy going; the bit with the magic bees is a genuine 'You WHAT?' moment bafflingly at odds with the dour realism of much of the rest of the film.
Reasonably good acting, although Paquin's attempt at a Scottish accent is not particularly easy on the ear. The problem is that the film is deeply predictable and not especially subtle (the girl-on-girl stuff is classily handled, though). I found it quite heavy going; the bit with the magic bees is a genuine 'You WHAT?' moment bafflingly at odds with the dour realism of much of the rest of the film.
The Tournament
9.0
Rate It
Book
Europe lives in fear of the powerful Islamic empire to the East. Under its charismatic Sultan,...
Queen Elizabeth I Chess
Awix (3310 KP) rated Murder by Decree (1979) in Movies
Feb 27, 2018 (Updated Feb 27, 2018)
Ah, nothing says 'fun' like a movie based on the activities of a brutal real-life misogynistic serial killer. Classy Sherlock Holmes pastiche is as much a vehicle to disseminate one particular Jack the Ripper theory as it is entertainment; fortunately it works very well as the later.
Not really a very good Sherlock Holmes movie - Holmes and Watson are clearly twenty years apart in age, weirdly, and Holmes' fearsome intellect is not much on display; his main method here seems to be to wander about until he stumbles over the solution to a mystery. But a distinguished cast and nice production values make up for the all-over-the-shop script, and the action at the end of the movie is well-staged. Hardly an ideal Holmes, but an entertaining mystery-thriller in a post-Hammer horror sort of style, issues of taste excepted.
Not really a very good Sherlock Holmes movie - Holmes and Watson are clearly twenty years apart in age, weirdly, and Holmes' fearsome intellect is not much on display; his main method here seems to be to wander about until he stumbles over the solution to a mystery. But a distinguished cast and nice production values make up for the all-over-the-shop script, and the action at the end of the movie is well-staged. Hardly an ideal Holmes, but an entertaining mystery-thriller in a post-Hammer horror sort of style, issues of taste excepted.